Mother Angelica had a Nativity scene built at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville that is kept open year-round. (Special)

It's a busy, bustling, exciting time of year at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, the home of pioneering TV nun Mother Angelica.

The nuns have been in choir practice, working on the Christmas carols they'll start singing on Christmas Eve, 40 minutes before midnight Mass in the chapel that's open to the public.

"More hustle and bustle than usual," said Sister Marie St. John, one of the nuns at Our Lady of the Angels, who was known as Molly Gilbert when she graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1989. "It's a very special time of year. We're trying to get our hearts ready."

Mother Angelica, 87, who founded the EWTN Global Catholic Network in the garage of her Irondale monastery in 1981, has been in poor health and remains mostly hidden from view.

"We have thousands of visitors and the first question they all ask is 'How is Mother Angelica doing?'" said Jonathan Howell, a spokesman for the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, which includes the chapel and visitors' center at the monastery.

"Mother's about the same," Howell said. "She has to stay in her room most of the time because of a lack of mobility. When she goes somewhere, the nuns have to get her ready and take her. She stays in her bed praying much of the time. Some days she can speak enough that you can have a conversation with her; other times she has difficulty expressing herself. She was a great communicator, and now she can hardly communicate at all."

View full sizeMother Angelica, founder of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, sits in her wheelchair at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville. (Special)

Mother Angelica dedicated the 13th century style monastery to the infant child Jesus, so she always placed a heavy emphasis on the Christmas season. She insisted that the Nativity scene she had built in an outdoor building near the visitors' center castle would be open year-round, not just at Christmas.

"She said, 'We are keeping this thing open year-round because Jesus became flesh for you every day, not just at Christmas,'" Sister Marie St. John said.

"Christmas Eve is the anniversary of Mother's cerebral hemorrhage in 2001," she said. "It's a bittersweet time. We're thankful God has her still here with us."

Mother Angelica built her international network and her own celebrity as a talkative TV nun. Now, she seldom speaks.

"She has such a peaceful serenity about her," Sister Marie St. John said. "Sometimes if I touch her when my hands are cold she lets me know she doesn't like it. She lets you know she's not happy. She doesn't talk, but there's no question in her understanding. Her eyes light up. She communicates through her eyes and her expression."

Currently there are 23 nuns living at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville. Sister Marie St. John's younger sister, Melissa Gilbert, graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 1991 and also joined the monastery. Now known as Sister Esther, she lives with several other nuns trying to establish a new monastery in Phoenix.

The nuns in Hanceville will visit Mother Angelica in her room on Christmas day, Sister Marie St. John said.

"The community will go in and give her gifts," she said. "We sing a couple of Christmas carols. One of her favorite carols is 'The Little Drummer Boy.'"

Mother Angelica imparted a love for Christmas and appreciation for the coming of Jesus in her nuns, Sister Marie St. John said.

"Not only did God became a man, he became a child," she said. "You just can't fathom the mystery. God came down. Jesus comes to heal our wounds and dry our tears. We just have to allow him to do that. Each Christmas is an opportunity to do that."